Auxerre – Sochaux

Sochaux beat Paris in their first play-off match. Will they cope with Auxerre?

In the second leg of the Ligue 2 play-offs, Auxerre and Sochaux will play for the right to qualify for the top division. Auxerre finished the regular season in solid third place and narrowly missed out on promotion directly. They only lost by one point to Ajaccio, who finished second and have already secured their place in Ligue 1 for next year. Auxerre, on the other hand, will have to go through the play-offs. That said, this team has been in great form in recent rounds. Auxerre have lost only one match out of the last 16. And they only lost to Toulouse (1-2), who dominated in Ligue 2 and easily won it. And in the last seven matches, Auxerre had only one draw and six wins. So Auxerre can only blame their failure to qualify directly for Ligue 1 on a poor first half of the season. In the second half, it was brilliant. Auxerre have won 11 matches at home this season, with four draws and four defeats. Sochaux have won ten away matches, with five draws and five defeats. The last away win for Sochaux is the most important one. They beat Paris 2-1 away in the first leg of the play-offs, scoring the decisive goal in the 92nd minute. Yes, the play-offs started early for Sochaux, as that team finished only fifth in Ligue 2. But fourth-placed Parisians have already knocked Sochaux out of the running for promotion. Sochaux are seriously enough behind Auxerre in the championship, six points behind. But anything can happen in an individual match. For example, Paris missed two penalties in the first half against Sochaux and got suspended - a real drama. Auxerre and Sochaux drew 0-0 in the first leg and then won 3-2 in the second leg. The winning goal was scored by Charbonnier, who has become the real leader of Auxerre's attacks. He is Ligue 2's second top scorer with 17 goals. Sochaux's top scorer, Calleulu, has just nine goals. Auxerre's form, league position, home arena and more time to prepare are in their favour in this match. However, Sochaux should be emboldened by their first success and could put up a fight.